Mary Fossier, who led Disney’s global anti-piracy team for years, has sued Disney for age discrimination. She claims her boss told her to think about retiring before she was laid off in 2024.
For more than 20 years, Mary Fossier went after people who sold fake Disney merchandise. Now she’s taking Disney to court.
Fossier, a former associate general counsel at Disney, filed an age discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company on Thursday, Oct. 8, in Los Angeles Superior Court, Deadline first reported.
She claims Disney laid her off in October 2024 “to make way for a younger and less qualified colleague.” According to the complaint, she was 64 when the trouble started, and she’s 67 now.
Disney had no comment when Deadline reached out.
Who is Mary Fossier?
She ran Disney’s anti-counterfeit operation. Fossier joined Disney as a business litigator in 1993, left in 1999 and came back in 2001 to focus on copyright and trademark enforcement, according to the complaint.
In 2020, she became an associate general counsel, a job at the senior vice president level.
Her suit says she grew Disney’s global physical anti-piracy team from a small U.S. operation into a group with 30 full-time employees and 50 outside law firms in more than 50 countries. That team went after knockoff toys, T-shirts, DVDs and unauthorized character appearances.
According to the complaint, her team handled tens of thousands of cases and pulled tens of millions of fake items off the market.
What does the Disney age discrimination lawsuit claim?
It centers on her new boss. The complaint says Louise Pentland, who joined Disney’s legal department around September 2023 to lead its Parks, Experiences and Products legal group, told Fossier in their very first meeting on Oct. 24, 2023, that “you need to think about retiring.”
According to the complaint, Pentland then drew a retirement timeline on a whiteboard during that meeting.
Fossier says she had no plans to retire and wanted to work at least another 10 years.
She claims she reported Pentland’s “ageist comments, treatment, and behavior“ to Disney’s human resources department at least three times. “Disney took no action in response to any of Ms. Fossier’s complaints,” the suit says.
None of these claims have been proven in court, and Disney hasn’t filed a response yet.
What was Project Coco at Disney?
According to the complaint, it was a cost-cutting layoff plan. In summer 2024, Fossier says she was asked to help pick people on her own team to lay off as part of “Project Coco.”
Pentland announced she was leaving Disney in July 2024, according to the suit. On Sept. 24, 2024, Fossier was told she was “impacted” by the layoffs, with her last day set for Oct. 18, 2024.
The complaint says Disney combined its physical and digital anti-piracy teams and put a significantly younger lawyer, with much less trademark and copyright experience, in charge. It also claims Disney never gave her a reason for choosing her and didn’t offer her another job.
What does Mary Fossier want from Disney?
She’s asking for a jury trial. The suit makes five claims: age discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, wrongful termination and negligence.
Fossier is seeking unspecified damages, including past and future lost income, plus injunctive relief.
Her lawyers, from the Pasadena firm Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, say she “has been devastated both economically and emotionally.” The complaint says she has almost no chance of finding a new job at 67.
Is Disney laying off more workers in 2026?
Yes. Disney made another round of layoffs in September, Deadline reported.
Around the same time, Disney’s chief legal and global affairs officer, Horacio Gutierrez, sent an internal memo warning of “hard choices“ about staffing, according to Deadline.
Fossier’s suit says Disney has a pattern of targeting older workers in layoffs. She isn’t the first former employee to make that claim in court, either. In January 2025, Deadline reported on another Disney age discrimination suit, from a fired analyst.
What happens next in the Disney lawsuit?
Disney will get a chance to respond in court. According to the filing, Fossier filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department on Oct. 6, two days before the lawsuit.
For now, it’s her word against the company she spent nearly three decades protecting.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Deadline (Oct. 8, 2026), the exclusive first report on the lawsuit, Disney’s no comment, the September layoffs and the Gutierrez memo
Fossier v. The Walt Disney Company, complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court (Oct. 8, 2026), Fossier’s career, the Oct. 24, 2023 meeting, Project Coco, the layoff dates and the five claims
AI Disclosure: All articles are assigned, edited and reviewed by an experienced human editor before posting. Like most modern newsrooms, WebReef Media uses a variety of AI tools to help with accuracy and efficiency. Ways AI may be used in article creation include research, grammar, fact-checking and ideation, as well as occasional AI generated or enhanced thumbnails or graphics. No articles are generated or posted without human oversight or involvement.